A call to former St. Peter’s parishioners

Are you a previous parishioner of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in St. Joseph? Join St. Peter’s 135th Anniversary Celebration! Saturday, July 12th features an evening of local entertainment. An outdoor mass will be celebrated Sunday, July 13th at 10:30 a.m. followed by lunch. Enjoy this opportunity to view historical displays, reminisce, and renew old friendships. There will be various activities for the children. In order to accommodate everyone, advance registration is recommended. For more information and to register call Monique 519-236-7817, Dennis 519-236-4755 or visit www.bluewater.dionet.ca.

When I think spring… I think rhubarb!

By James Eddington, Eddington’s of Exeter
519-235-3030

Really, I do!
Rhubarb is a vegetable with a unique taste that makes it a favorite in many pies and desserts. Rhubarb is often commonly mistaken to be a fruit, but rhubarb is actually a close relative of garden sorrel, and that makes it a member of the vegetable family.
Rhubarb is rich in vitamin C and dietary fibre. Rhubarb is a perennial plant with large leaves and has long, thick and tasty stalks, and is available from early winter through early summer. Winter rhubarb is commercially produced in forcing houses in Michigan and Ontario. Rhubarb is common ingredient in any chef’s kitchen during these months.
Rhubarb leaves grow from the ground in early spring. The leaves can grow up to a foot or more in width and length and the plant may grow to a height of several feet. The green leaves of the plant are poisonous. They contain high concentrations of oxalic acid crystals, these crystals can cause swelling of throat and tongue and can restrict breathing.
The edible stalks are up to 18 inches long, 1 to 2 inches in diameter just like celery. These stalks are cut and used in pies, jams, chutney, jellies, sauces and juice.
Ontario’s West Coast rhubarb is always ready for picking just as soon as the strawberries are ready for harvest. It freezes well, as do the berries, so you can enjoy these spring delicacies all year round.

Rhubarb & Strawberry Lemonade
Makes about six servings
3-1/4 cups water
3/4 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup sugar, or to taste
Two 3-inch strips of lemon zest removed with a vegetable peeler, plus additional for garnish
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice
Splash of vodka: optional
Sprig of mint: garnish

In a saucepan stir together the water, the rhubarb, the sugar, 2 strips of the zest and the vanilla, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and simmer it, covered, for 8 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the strawberries and boil the mixture, covered, for 2 minutes.
Let the mixture cool and strain it through a coarse sieve set or china cap over a pitcher, pressing hard on the solids. Stir in the remaining cup of strawberries , vodka (optional) and the lemon juice, divide the lemonade among glasses filled with ice cubes and garnish each glass with some of the additional zest and fresh mint.

South Huron boys’ hockey team eliminated from OFSAA

The South Huron District High School boys’ hockey team lost a critical game Friday morning, 7-2 to #2 ranked Appleby, and were eliminated from the OFSAA tournament with a 2-2-0 record. The top two teams from each pool advanced to playoffs, but the loss put South Huron into third place.

For more details on the tournament, visit the OFSAA website.

South Huron boys’ hockey team 2-1-0 at OFSAA in Ottawa

South Huron District High School’s boys’ hockey team is sitting at two wins, one loss and no ties at the OFSAA championships in Ottawa. South Huron entered the tournament ranked 15 out of 20, and are now placed third in their pool, with one game to go.

The boys lost their first game to Sacred Heart 4-2; they won their next two games, 6-0 over Queen Elizabeth and 4-0 over St. Charles.

South Huron has the second lowest goals against average in the tournament, with 1.333. They will face undefeated Appleby - who won all three games with shutouts - Friday morning at 10:30 a.m.

Babysitter position wanted

Mexican woman looking for a baby-sitting job in Grand Bend.

Please contact Grand Bend Strip at 519-614-3614 for contact information.

God and family were everything to Mary

Hub Thiel reflects on Mary’s life, his luck, and their love

Mary Simmons Walker-Thiel was born in Woodstock in 1954. The Zurich resident lost two children in infancy, and her first husband Rick Walker and their son Evan were killed in a car crash in 1989. Mary later married Hub Thiel, soon after his first wife – also named Mary – died, forming a family with two children each, and adding two more together.
Mary Walker-Thiel died February 19 in a head-on crash with a transport truck on Thames Road east of Exeter. Hub was driving their 15-passenger van, and survived the crash.

As told to Casey Lessard

Hub Thiel: I’d hate to be alive if I didn’t know she was in heaven.
Mary had a heart of gold. I don’t know why she ever fell for a guy like me. I guess I talked her ear off and got lucky as heck. Only a fool wouldn’t have grabbed her hard and hung on.

Mary was working at Merrymount Children’s Home in London when her roommate met a man from Zurich, and through them she met Rick Walker. I worked with Rick’s mother at General Coach, so I knew Mary a long time before I met her. I would see her at church, and we became friends. My wife and her were friends, too.
Rick and Evan and my first cousin’s son Samuel Thiel were killed on the May long weekend in 1989. It just totally rocked this community. He was a young guy with two little kids in the car, and Rick and Evan were killed instantly. Samuel lived for a few days until after his mother returned from a trip to Arizona.
Mary lived alone with her girls in Centralia until 1995. When my wife died that year, she was there and was a strong support. She was just this angel who would help everybody and anybody. I needed help and she had gone through things, so she was just like one of the thousand people who were helping.
We were both involved in youth council at church. We spent time planning a trip and a while after we returned we got closer.
It was easy being together. It just seemed like it was meant to be.
Family was the number one thing. Mary would drop anything for the kids. That’s the way she was. It wasn’t just grandkids; it didn’t matter who it was. She would be there.
She was always late. But that’s because she took the time. Then she’d realize she was supposed to be somewhere else and she was talking as she’s driving out the laneway. That was her heart.

Road warrior

We had a 15-passenger van, and we didn’t need a 15-passenger van here anymore than a hole in the head; the gas consumption’s kind of stupid. But I’d just drive it to work, which is just a couple of clicks. The price of the van was good and I’m really cheap. Mary liked the van because she could pile people in. If you needed a ride somewhere, Mary would take you. If your kid needed a ride somewhere, Mary would take you.
It was a perfect vehicle for her. She was a bus driver and I’m a truck driver, so we could both handle the big vehicle. It was important to her to be able to take as many people anywhere they needed to go. That was her heart.
Mary loved shopping. She’d take a couple women with her and go to Costco, filling the van up. She’d take the kids and push them in the carts, and love them right up. She had to go anyway, so why not take the van and take them, too?

The last day

Mary’s daughter Sarah is a world traveler. She’s a nurse and has been to Europe several times and she did a term in Africa. When she was in Europe, she met a group from Australia who said, Come to Australia. Sarah set up a trip for four months to go to Australia and we were taking Sarah to Toronto airport.
We went around by grandma Simmons’, we had a wonderful visit with Mary’s mother and took Sarah to the airport. We had a wonderful time saying goodbye to her, joking around and it was nice.
On the way home, we stopped at Milton and had a coffee. After leaving Milton, we had one of the nicest drives we ever had. Mary had to come home to be at the church council meeting and I had to come home to take the kids to figure skating.
We were late, but the road was snow-covered, so I wasn’t going very fast. All of a sudden, as we approached Exeter, the van veered over the centre line and into the opposite lane.
The last word I said to Mary was no, and the last word said to me was Hub. I don’t remember the impact at all. I woke up spitting this crap out from my mouth, which was from the airbag.
I turned to my right where Mary should have been sitting, and the wheel of the truck was within three inches of my right shoulder. Mary’s body was driven right back behind the seat behind me.
When I crawled out of the van, there was an Exeter firefighter there right away, and other people. The ambulance came and a police officer told me Mary had passed away.
I was devastated. Completely devastated. I was driving the van and it’s very hard on a guy because I thought, I should have maybe been able to do something. I’m not beating myself up. It’s not going to bring her back.
Being a truck driver, I know he had no chance of avoiding us. If we only had 10 or 20 seconds more either way, I could have been in the ditch in front of him or behind him.

Lean on me

The community support has been so unreal. I’ve never seen so many flowers in my life. I have dishes here I’m not even sure who owns them.
We have to go on. If the things like Heart-to-Heart and the Zurich Bible School, which were both very important to her, keep going, that’s going to be her legacy more than anything.
We live in the best community in the world and it’s because of people like Mary. Someone’s got to help carry on.
All six of my kids are level-headed people. We mourn at the times we mourn, but we are happy at the happy times. We have a good handle on mourning. People think we’re steady as a rock. You can be when you have faith and you have a good handle on what is going on.
I have to be strong for my kids, but I also have to be strong for the handicapped kids she worked with. She never saw their handicap; she always saw their potential. She made me, Katherine and Matthew see the same thing. It was a joy to have them in our house, and they brought a lot of love in.
I’m calling some of them to encourage them to come visit because it’s important for us to continue on together.
The most important thing was her faith in God. Right now, she’s in heaven, cooking, rocking Evan, she’s got my little son who was five weeks old when he died, and two children who were stillborn. Her father’s there playing harmonica and Mary’s doing a little dance. She’s taking care of everybody and having a good time.
Going to heaven’s going to be easier because we know she’s there.

Taking pride in the watershed

ABCF Conservation Dinner featured artist David Bannister’s art shows love for the area’s water

ABCF Conservation Dinner
Thursday, April 17 - 5:30 p.m.
South Huron Recreation Centre
Tickets: $50 each
Contact: 519-235-2610, 1-888-286-2610 or info@abca.on.ca

Story and portrait by Casey Lessard
Paintings by David Bannister

“I’ve noticed that water features in my work about 80 per cent of the time,” says David Bannister, “whether it’s the river or a lake scene. I think the quality of the water around here is probably more important to me than I even realize.”
Bannister is the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation’s featured artist for its 19th annual Conservation Dinner to be held April 17.
“It’s an event that supports many different conservation activities,” says ABCA’s Tim Cumming, “including accessible trails, conservation education, fish stocking in the Morrison reservoir, and commemorative woods tree plantings.”
“When I was asked to do this,” Bannister says, “I was really pleased to help out. I’m very attracted to landscapes that involve farmland and water - rivers and things like that. It still strikes a chord with me from my youth being raised on a farm. I think you quite often see the management and the boards of the conservation authorities tend to be farmers. It’s really a way of making sure the land and the farms and the rivers that connect the rural and urban areas are healthy for all concerned. The conservation authority plays a vital role in the environment. They were environmentalists before the rest of us even heard the word.
“Having grown up on a farm, we always felt the water you grew up next to was important to the farm operation. I think it’s important to all of our lives. You realize you have to be stewards of the water, that there are people living downstream, that your livestock may depend on that source of water being relatively clean. You have to keep it free of pollutants, and we’ve all seen what happens when those things fail and the consequences.”
And water continues to be important for his life in Grand Bend.
“People are attracted to the water,” Bannister says. “I can’t imagine not living next to it anymore. In terms of tourism and attracting people to the community, water is a key part of that. The health of that watershed and the lake water is vital to maintaining both a tourism and living environment. As the lake comes increasingly under threat from septic tanks, farm runoff, or high E. coli for whatever reason, it’s important that those of us who already live here do what we can to protect the water and in some cases improve it.
“I keep a sailboat in the cut off the Ausable, and in the summer particularly, six days out of seven I’m on the river at some point. Certainly the quality of the water and the fact that it’s lively and active with fish you can see, it’s a reflection of the water quality for the community and the ability to attract tourism. It’s integral to our lives more than we realize.”
Bannister does a lot of photography in the watershed’s conservation areas, particularly Rock Glen in Arkona. His paintings are heavily influenced by the local environs, including Morning, Ausable, the painting he donated for the dinner’s auction.
“The subject matter is dear to my heart because it’s both the Grand Bend Yacht Club, where I keep my boat in the summer, and the building that the River Road art gallery is in, and those are two areas in my life that are important to me. It’s actually painted from a photograph that I took very early in the morning a number of years ago, and it’s just bathed in a nice warm light. It has a soft yellow feeling about the whole scene.”
The painting is among the many items available at the event, which features a live auction, silent auction, general and special raffles, and door prizes. Seating opens at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. Cumming says most people arrive early so they can get a good seat. This year’s master of ceremonies will be Scott Miller of A-Channel.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Cumming adds. “The community comes out and it’s a dress-up event, there’s a buzz, an excitement, and it’s a great night all around.”

Curves food drive a win-win for all

Curves for Women is offering area women a chance to get into shape while helping others. Its annual food drive runs until the end of March, and supports the Exeter and Zurich food banks.
Curves waives the $199 start-up fee for new members who bring in a bag of groceries; current members earn Curves cash for each donation. The gym will also offer different draws, prizes, games and activities this month.
Donors should bring non-perishable foods, with baby food and healthy lunch snack items very popular.
“Food banks need the support and this is a good way to be a citizen of the community,” says Curves owner Ann Barteaux. “This club has done really well. We were over 2500 lbs. last year and 3000 lbs. the year before.”
The food drive occurs across North America.

Huron SPCA launches 2008 Animal House dinner auction

The Huron SPCA is preparing for its 2008 dinner auction, which will be held Friday, May 30 at Exeter’s South Huron Recreation Centre. Donations and tickets sales for the annual fundraiser have brought in $166,000 for the animal shelter over the past three years.
The SPCA’s new shelter location has helped adoptions triple and reports of cruelty have multiplied, allowing the SPCA to help more neglected, abused and abandoned animals than ever before.
Event co-chair Kate McKenzie expects the dinner will sell out by April, so if you want to attend you should buy your tickets soon. They’re available at Baillie’s Picture Framing in Grand Bend, Exeter Animal Hospital, the SPCA shelter in Goderich, or by contacting McKenzie at 519-236-4044.
“This event is crucial for the survival of the animal shelter in Huron County,” says branch coordinator and agent Wendy Reid. “The SPCA does not receive any government funding for our shelters and in spite of the generosity of the local veterinary clinics, our veterinary bills alone total over $40,000 annually. Any money we raise in Huron County stays here to help the neglected, abandoned and abused animals in this area.”
The event committee is also seeking volunteers.
“We need people to assist us to get donations for the Live and Silent Auction,” says event co-chair Liam Brennan. “Closer to the event, we need workers to help with set-up and work the night of the event. This is a great opportunity for students to get community hours.”
Volunteers should contact Kate McKenzie at 519-236-4044.

An Evocative Story Very Well Told

Hana’s Suitcase
Adapted by Emil Sher, from the book by Karen Levine
Performed by Burgandy Code, Jennifer Dzialoszynski, Jan Filips, Nicco Lorenzo Garcia, Gil Garratt, Matthew Gorman, Manami Hara, Janet Lo.
Directed by Susan Ferley
Grand Theatre Production
Grand Theatre, London
February 12 to March 1, 2008

Live! On Stage!
Review by Mary Alderson

Right after a show, friends sometimes call or email me with questions before I get the review written. Did you like Hana’s Suitcase? No, it’s not likeable. Was it well done? Yes, absolutely.
Hana’s Suitcase, now playing at London’s Grand Theatre, is by far the most emotionally draining show I have ever seen. I knew I was going to see a play about the holocaust. Obviously, this was not a comedy with a fairy tale ending. But I was certainly unprepared for how Hana’s story gripped my heart, how moved I felt, how many tears would flow, and how it still haunts me days later.
The story begins in Japan, where Fumiko Ishioka (Janet Lo), a teacher at Tokyo’s Holocaust Education Centre, displays some artefacts, which are on loan. Two school children, Maiko (Manami Hara) and Akira (Nicco Lorenzo Garcia) are fascinated by an old suitcase bearing the name Hana Brady, her birth date of May 16, 1931 and the German word for “orphan”. Their many questions stimulate the teacher to try to learn more about Hana. They write letters to Auschwitz, and other museums in Europe to find out Hana’s fate. Sadly, they learn that Hana was killed in the gas chambers at the concentration camp, but they are able to trace her life back to Czechoslovakia, and eventually they discover that she has a brother George, still living in Toronto, Canada.
George writes to the school children, and tells them of his and Hana’s idyllic childhood, pre World War II. He also tells of the ever-increasing Nazi regulations – they aren’t allowed to go to movies, then they can’t play in the park, then they can’t attend school and see their Christian friends. Finally, they must wear the Star of David at all times. Their parents are both arrested and taken away to concentration camps, but they stay on briefly with their Christian uncle. They, too, are taken away, first to a concentration camp in Theresienstadt, and then in 1944 both ended up at Auschwitz. Hana is murdered immediately, but George, as he is able to do work, is spared. The Japanese children, so moved by Hana’s story, decide to share it with other school children across Japan.
CBC reporter Karen Levine heard about the Japanese project and turned the story into a radio documentary. In 2000 she published a children’s novel, intertwining the Japanese school children’s story with George’s sad account. The play follows the same format. In the first act, we hear the Japanese children, and see them in their research, while the characters of Hana (Jennifer Dzialoszynski) and George (Matthew Gorman) move silently about the stage. In the second act, Hana and George have voices, as the Japanese teacher reads the adult George’s letter.
Burgandy Code is exceptional in her many roles as the various museum curators, but most effective and endearing as Marketa, Hana and George’s mother. A new mother herself, she portrays both the unbelievable pain and the strength she had to summon to say a final goodbye to her children. As Karel, Hana and George’s father and the older George, Jan Filips is also very good. Gil Garratt does excellent work as several male characters and Uncle Ludvik, who has the horrific task of sending off his niece and nephew. Lo as the Japanese teacher is very successful in showing her concern about the children taking the news that is “sadder than sad” as she unravels the tale for them.
Dzialoszynski and Gorman as Hana and the young George and Hara as Maiko are all very effective in the difficult task of playing children and capturing the essence of youth. However, Garcia was not convincing as the Japanese schoolboy, perhaps because he appeared too old for the part and therefore his child-like antics came across as awkward and uncomfortable. Adults playing youth caught in very un-childlike situations can be a challenge for actors.
Director Susan Ferley has probably created one of her most memorable shows. Anyone in the audience will be unsettled by this poignant play for a long time. The stage is very plain yet very fitting – with several sliding doors, it is suitable for Japanese rooms, also appropriate museum storage, and even convincing as a train carrying crowded Jews to the camps.
Normally, opening night audiences at the Grand are generous with their appreciation. Standing ovations are usual. But on the opening night of Hana’s Suitcase, there was even a hesitation before applause filled the theatre. Clapping hardly seemed appropriate for such a gripping tale. There was no standing ovation, not because the cast didn’t deserve it, but because we were too drained to get to our feet.
Hana’s Suitcase continues at the Grand Theatre in London until March first. Tickets are available at the Grand box office at 672-8800 or 1-800-265-1593.

Mary Alderson offers her view of area theatre in this column on a regular basis. As well as being a fan of live theatre, she is a former journalist who is currently employed with the Ontario Association of Community Futures Development Corporations.

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